Rocketship co-founder, CEO and President Preston Smith

Written by

Lisa Fingeroot

The Tennessean

Rocketship’s payload

• Founded in 2006• Co-founders: Preston Smith, 33, current CEO and president, former Teach for America educator. John Danner, former director of KIPP Academy Nashville, former Nashville public school teacher. He is no longer part of the organization but serves on Rocketship National Strategy Board. • Number of schools: Seven open and two planned in California; first of many planned in Milwaukee scheduled to open in August. • Grades K-5• 500 students per school• 90 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals• 75 percent speak English as second language• College preparatory focus• Blended learning program• Extended day• Project-based learning• Individual plan for each child• Adam Nadeau, 34 • Principal of California charter school until June• Nashville native• Former Nashville public school and KIPP teacher• Former Hume-Fogg student• Master’s degree from Vanderbilt University

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Metro school officials were shocked to hear a California charter school group had state permission to open the first of eight planned schools in Nashville in 2014.

Until Rocketship Education announced plans on Thursday, school officials thought they had an agreement with the state to turn around low-performing schools on their own. The Rocketship announcement made early Thursday was such a surprise to them that they were still seeking official verification late Thursday afternoon and declined to comment.

“We’re not waiting, in spite of what they’re doing,” said Jeremy Jones, spokesman for the Tennessee Achievement School District, which was created by a special act of the legislature.

The Rocketship announcement came amid an ongoing feud between the Metro school board and state officials over charter schools. As the legislature debates whether to approve a statewide charter school authorizer, the school board is arguing for local control and warning that education funding going to charter schools will leave the system with a nearly $30 million shortfall in the next budget.

The Rocketship charter schools were approved by the ASD, which is empowered to take over the lowest-performing schools in Tennessee and is authorized to approve charter schools to serve the children in those low-performing schools. Its authority extends only to the lowest-performing 5 percent of schools.

Metro originally had 10 schools set for state takeover, but it ended up with only one school taken into the ASD fold — Brick Church Middle.

In a series of emails over several days, Jones indicated that Metro would be allowed to improve its schools without interference.

“We want to give Metro the chance to move those schools along before we take any action,” he wrote.

The ASD backed off Nashville schools because it had created a special department devoted to improving those schools and ASD Superintendent Chris Barbic decided to concentrate on Memphis, “where there was the greatest and most urgent need,” Jones wrote.

“We plan on checking back in with them (Metro) at the end of this school year to analyze that progress and think about next steps should we need to take any,” Jones said in one email. “I think Metro has a golden opportunity to prove that when struggling schools are given the resources and autonomy needed to make decisions that impact students, they can quickly transform those schools.”

The agreement was for Metro to show at least a 10 percent improvement in student performance in its low-performing schools for each year in a three-year period that would end in the 2014-15 school year, Metro school spokesman Joe Bass said.

In works 18 months

Rocketship co-founder, CEO and President Preston Smith said the announcement was made Thursday because his board recently finalized the company’s Nashville plans. It was approved as a charter school provider in 2012 and has been making plans for about 18 months, he added.

Rocketship plans to eventually enroll 4,000 Nashville students but will start with one school for about 500 students. The company will open one school each year starting in 2014. School openings are contingent on success, according to the announcement.